Mindful Mondays #19: Managing Attention
Thriving with ADHD, tea with your enemies, and questioning the nature of reality
Good morning, and welcome to another edition of Mindful Mondays.
Lately, I’ve been feeling like it’s been a challenge to stay focused, especially on the tasks I’d rather not be doing. For me, these are often the boring, repetitive, or low-meaning tasks that nevertheless need to get done (I’m looking at you, taxes).
While I don’t think I actually have ADHD, I’m realizing that I share a lot of the same challenges as people who do. I procrastinate on opening my mail. My desk is covered with stacks of books and papers. I hate filling out forms. Despite years of practicing mindfulness, I can be a bit of an absent-minded professor type.
So I’ve started reading books written for people with ADHD to see if they can help me (and my clients) better cope with these challenges. Right now I’m making my way through Order from Chaos by Jaclyn Paul.
Here’s one of my highlights: “ADHD abhors tedium without purpose. Find your purpose, and you may have a shot at conquering measured doses of tedium.”
This relates to one of my core principles: to make any change in your life, you need a strong enough “Why.” As Nietzche wrote, “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.”
The next step is finding a “how” that works for you and your unique personality, habits, and nervous system.
A few things that have been helping me recently:
Jotting down my top 3 priorities for each day
Pomodoro technique (turn off distractions, set a timer for 25 minutes, and go)
Lo-fi music in the background while working
What works for you? Let me know by replying to this email. (I read every response.)
Article of Interest
Serving Tea to Nazis: If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you know I love tea. In this article, Ian Leslie shares the story of how Nelson Mandela prevented a violent uprising and ensured a peaceful election in South Africa by serving tea to one of his greatest enemies. It’s an instructive example of what it could take to overcome the kind of extreme partisan divisions we’re seeing in the world today.
Podcast of the Week
Professor Donald Hoffman — The Case Against Reality, Beyond Spacetime, Rethinking Death, Panpsychism, QBism, and More (#585): Why are some top physicists now saying that “spacetime is doomed?” What if consciousness is more fundamental than space and time? Can ancient spiritual traditions give scientists clues to the ultimate nature of reality? These are among the many questions discussed by Donald Hoffman, Ph.D., a professor emeritus of cognitive science, in this Tim Ferriss Show episode from last year.
Quote of the Week
“The truth will set you free. But not until it’s finished with you.”
—David Foster Wallace
That’s all for this week. As always, I appreciate your feedback on Mindful Mondays. What was your favorite thing I shared this week? What would you like to read more about? Let me know by replying to this email, commenting on Substack, or hitting me up on Twitter.
Thanks for reading,
Chris Cordry, LMFT
PS: Want help clarifying your sense of purpose, setting goals, and making progress on the most important changes you want to make in your life? Reply to this email to ask me about 1:1 coaching.
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I tend to work much better with music on. The time lost dancing more than makes up for all the time lost just thinking without it!
Its always an interesting line between ADHD diagnosis and ADHD like symptoms. I think I will need to check out that book eventually.
Nice work, Chris!